VIRGINIA IS FOR?: Good question, per the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “A Confederate heritage group confirmed Tuesday that it plans to fly a 10-by-15-foot Confederate flag along Interstate 95 just south of Richmond. The flag will fly on a 50-foot pole, and will be visible from the northbound lane, said Susan Hathaway, founder of Virginia Flaggers, the group behind the flag. It’s tentatively scheduled to go up Sept. 28.

“Basically, the flag is being erected as a memorial to the memory and the honor of the Confederate soldiers who sacrificed, bled and died to defend Virginia from invasion,” she said. The state’s chapter of the NAACP is vocally opposing the move. “It would be an embarrassment,” said Virginia NAACP Executive Director King Salim Khalfani.” http://bit.ly/14iwLLJ

YEMEN: And drones, per the Washington Post, “The Obama administration authorized a series of drone strikes in Yemen over the past 10 days as part of an effort to disrupt an al-Qaeda terrorism plot that has forced the closure of American embassies around the world, U.S. officials said. The officials said the revived drone campaign — with four strikes in rapid succession — is directly related to the emergence of intelligence indicating that al-Qaeda’s leader has urged the group’s Yemen affiliate to attack Western targets.” http://wapo.st/1bb4Or5

DREAM HOME: Or not, per the New York Times, “In the seven years since the housing market started to fall apart, politicians of both parties have promised repeatedly to build a better system for financing the American dream of owning a home. There is little sign of progress.

“Instead, the stopgap nationalization of housing finance has hardened into one of the most enduring legacies of the Great Recession. The federal government guaranteed about 87 percent of new mortgage loans last year, through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration, effectively setting the terms and providing the money for nine out of 10 home purchases and refinanced loans.” http://nyti.ms/189wA5t

MARYLAND PRISONS: The latest, per the Baltimore Sun, “The inmate's handwritten letter, addressed to a tier captain in the North Branch Correctional Institution in Cumberland, was clear: Remove two specific corrections officers from the housing unit, or they would be violently attacked. "I will not let you know when your time has run out," wrote the inmate, who claimed to control the marching orders of other prisoners in the maximum-security state prison.

"By Monday, several days after the letter was sent, officials had warned one of the officers named in the letter, but not the other — a violation of corrections department policy, officials said. About 8:40 a.m. Monday, authorities say, the unwarned officer was stabbed multiple times in the neck and head with a homemade weapon, allegedly by an inmate serving a life sentence for murder. The officer was rushed to an area hospital with what officials say were non-life-threatening injuries.” http://bsun.md/17wKL24

DEAD DOLPHINS: Bluntly speaking, per the Virginian-Pilot, “A Smithsonian museum scientist who dealt with the nation's largest dolphin die-off arrived Tuesday to help figure out what's killing dolphins in Virginia at a rate not seen in 26 years. As of Monday, 16 dolphins had washed up dead in Virginia in August, bringing this year's total to 103. Almost half of the yearly count was found in July.

“The stranding response team of the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center believes it caught the developing epidemic early, largely because of measures put in place after more than 750 dolphins washed up dead on the East Coast in 1987. After three years of research, morbillivirus, similar to the agent that causes measles, was deemed the culprit.” http://bit.ly/16tk6EA

WHITEY BULGER: Of awaiting a verdict, per the Boston Globe, “After 36 days of a trial that included grotesque stories of underworld brutality and betrayal, a jury of eight men and four women began deliberations Tuesday in the federal racketeering trial in Boston of FBI informant and crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger, who is accused of participating in 19 murders.” http://bo.st/187w7k5

THEY WANT TO DO WHAT?: Like, whatever, per The Hill, “Senate conservatives are increasing pressure on Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) to use the threat of a government shutdown to defund ObamaCare. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are spearheading the effort to build a “grassroots army” to influence GOP leadership after entreaties to their colleagues fell short.” http://bit.ly/11Kz2yb

POLITICO PLAY: "BURBANK, Calif. — For the last few months, Jay Leno’s decided President Barack Obama makes for a good joke. That’s a problem for the White House — one that the president came here Tuesday trying to fix.

". . .Obama and Leno covered a lot of serious ground — about the threat to U.S. embassies, the troubled relationship with Russia over Edward Snowden and the country’s anti-gay laws, and the NSA’s surveillance activities. And they also covered Obama’s relationships with former rivals John McCain and Hillary Clinton, how the president really does like broccoli, and even added the obligatory joke about getting so old that he and his friends needed ibuprofen after they played basketball and golf together on his birthday." http://politi.co/142epdr

LUCKY YOU: Um, kind of, per ABC7—WJLA, “When you think of winning the lottery, you imagine taking home a fat check. “A good prize that I can enjoy while I'm alive,” says Manassas resident Alfredo Villarreal. In his hometown, however, a new lottery is designed for the dead. With the demand for gravesites high and the supply low, the city got creative. It’s holding a burial plot lottery.” http://wj.la/13EU3vj

MUSIC MUTED: Sorry, Chuck, per City Paper, “First, the plans for Chuck Brown Park included a music pavilion with an amphitheater to seat more than 900 people. Then, amid complaints for neighbors, they got scaled back, with a 200-seat amphitheater. Now, in the latest iteration of the plans, the amphitheater's gone altogether.” http://bit.ly/1cGRgoE

DISTURBING TREND: Few solutions in sight, per the Washington Times, “After three suicides at the D.C. Jail in the past two months, union officials say corrections officers don’t have the resources to provide appropriate mental health monitoring of inmates. A 53-year-old man awaiting trial on sexual abuse charges was found hanging in his cell at the jail Monday, and his death is one in a series of incidents that union Chairman John Rosser believes could continue unless something is done to either increase capabilities at the jail or provide additional mental health services through other agencies.” http://bit.ly/158N75w

JUST THE FACTS: per ARLnow, “The first degree murder case against Arlington County Sheriff’s Deputy Craig Patterson from a fatal shooting in Alexandria in May was sent to a grand jury on Tuesday afternoon. Patterson, 44, is accused of shooting and killing 22-year-old Julian Dawkins, an Alexandria resident.” http://bit.ly/13KTNXY

MUST READ: A letter to Mr. Bezos, per the Post’s Gene Weingarten, “Dear Jeff,

“Welcome to The Post.

“I have read that the $250 million you paid for this newspaper is roughly 1 percent of your net worth, making it about as risky and consequential a purchase for you as a used 2003 Honda Civic might be for me. Still, I hope and strongly suspect you will not see it as a plaything, or, to extend the already shaky metaphor, a vehicle for promoting your bigger enterprises.

“I am presuming that despite the chump-change numbers, this is a big deal for you, and that you plan to roll up your sleeves and be the guy who finds a way to make conventional journalism succeed financially.

TRENDING ON ABC7 FACEBOOK: “A new report is the first evidence of a national decline in childhood obesity, health officials said today. For the first time, there were slight obesity declines in 18 states for low-income preschoolers. The biggest declines were in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, and South Dakota.” http://wj.la/1eqQavl